Stories inspired by life as a mother of 2 (one competitive dancer, one who dances and competes in karate). Also, stepmom to 3 teenage boys. I'm also a dancer, and an Early Childhood Teacher. I've been a two time walker of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure, two time participant in the Relay for Life, and so far, have jumped into a cold lake once for the Polar Plunge, MN.

Combining families definitely has its challenges at times. If you don’t already know, Jason (@StrateSQL|blog) and I have 5 kids all together. He has 3 from a previous marriage, and I have two. Yes, we are a bit like the Brady Bunch, and no, we won’t be having any more.

Here are our 5 kids, ages 7-14.

The holidays are sometimes tricky, based on the schedules of when we each have our kids. Jason has his boys on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (alternating years). I always have my kids Christmas Eve, and they are with their dad Christmas Day. That means, every other year, we have two Christmases with kids. This was that year.

The morning of Christmas Eve, my kids got up early to see what Santa had brought them. They opened their gifts from us, and Jason’s mom brought her gifts for my two over. We then went to my Mom’s house for my side of the family’s Christmas gathering.

Afterwards, I dropped my kids off at their dad’s, and Jason and I had a quiet evening. We exchanged gifts, and headed downstairs for an evening of video games. Yup, we’re geeks. I recently got interested in playing Dungeon Defenders with him and the kids. Jason and I discovered we make a pretty darn good team, and that I rather enjoy the strategy of the game. We ended up playing until well after midnight…

Christmas morning, we woke up to no kids. It was very weird. It’s not the first time that’s happened, but it was still weird, and a bit sad. The good thing, was that I had a little time to relax with my coffee, and get some cleaning up done before the Strates all came over later that day. Jason’s boys were dropped off late morning. They got to see what Santa brought them, and open their gifts. Just as we got the wrapping paper all cleaned up, the rest of Jason’s family started showing up. The day was a whirlwind of activity for the rest of the day… My kids showed up later that evening. The adults played cards upstairs, while the kids played video games downstairs.

All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas, even if it was a bit unconventional. We hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season, and a great winter break!

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